My grandparents had a house outside Cape Town called Stone House, which was the most incredible family home and we visited every Christmas. It was a very traditional home with log fires, antique heirlooms and a higgledy-piggledy arrangement of rooms. I remember clearly the drawing room with its fabric combinations of suedes, leather, chenilles and velvets and lots of buttoning on cushions - which have played a big part in my style.

In those days, homes were created over years and years with patience and love. Today we expect to make one instantly, and now when a client says to me that what I've created feels like they've been there all their life, I know that's my grandmother's and Stone House's influence.

But it's from my mother that my entrepreneurial streak comes from and growing up around her, it was no surprise that I started my own business when I was only 16. She came from a very wealthy background and had no need to work but it is testament to her dynamic and creative personality that she did. She began her business by selling maps of Africa and from there, she built a very successful business which specialised in antiquarian books and maps. Over the years she has branched into writing books as well as owning an art gallery.

She would arrange meetings at the house, and I watched and learned. People would pitch up, probably expecting an antiquarian book dealer to be dressed in tweed, covered in dust and with her hair in a bun; instead she would enter the room wearing a catsuit with her hair in a chignon, and a huge, wide belt on. It was hilarious watching people's reactions to her.

Her sense of style was echoed in our home, which was fabulous, and her friends all had amazing houses too. When I was very young she used to ask me what I wanted to do at the weekends and I would say, "Can we go and look at a show flat, please?" She even let me decorate my own bedroom - she gave me a rope and slowly let it out and, from that, there grew a confidence in my own taste and abilities.

Throughout my career I've sought her advice and I always know that even if I don't like what she says, it's correct. She's very focused and determined and doesn't give up easily on things - I hope I've inherited those strengths from her. She told me years ago that a problem is always solvable, just stand back from it; the next day things always look better and I've adopted this approach in all that I do.

I'm never frightened of trying things and have a confidence in my abilities and that, without a shadow of doubt, I learned from her.

· Kelly Hoppen's Home From Concept to Reality is published by Jacqui Small. She was talking to Deany Judd